Page 64 of Make It Last

That drew another startled laugh out of me. “I know, but I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You’re not going to hurt me.” She shifted her leg with the boot, bending her knee. “See? I can’t even move my ankle in this. It’s all stabilized.” She wiggled her knee back and forth to demonstrate.

“I know, but?—”

“Don’t. Don’t you worry about it.

“Okay, I understand, but I’m going to worry about your ankle.”

She sighed and rolled her eyes, hard. Maybe not as hard as my cock, but still. “It’s so unsexy.”

“Ava, everything about you is sexy. Including that.” I gestured toward her boot.

Her lips twitched with a smile, and when she giggled—fuck me, that sound—it slipped through the cracks around my heart like cold air sneaking in through a drafty window in winter. There was no way to keep it out. No way to keep her out.

I was in treacherous waters, and I knew it. After my broken engagement, after coming to terms with the kind of man I was—dutiful, reliable, and always a little worried I might have a touch of my father in me—I hadn’t thought I’d want to be with anyone again.

The most startling thing about Ava was how she was already showing me everything Laney never had. Oh, I had loved Laney. But it was young, immature love. I hadn’t understood much about myself then, or Laney, or life. In all the years since, I hadn’t fallen for anyone else—or even come close.

But Ava, with her snark, her sass, her boldness in spite of what she told me about her own relationship, her insecurities, her vulnerabilities that I knew she tried to hide—they were all there to see. She was too much of herself to hide them even though I knew she hoped she did.

Ava shimmied a little closer, and when I felt the press of her breast against the side of my chest, where I was angled close to her, the feel of her skin was like lightning across my nerve endings. All of me felt shockingly alive.

“And I should point out,” she said, “if your hesitation is because of the condom thing, go for it.”

“It’s not that,” I said, taking a breath. “I didn’t expect you, Ava.”

Suddenly, the moment shifted, becoming intimate in a way I hadn’t planned. Hell, I hadn’t even intended to say that.

She blinked, lifting her hand to trail her fingertips along the stubbled edge of my jaw. “I didn’t expect you, Tanner. Does that mean we should stop?” Her smile was uncertain.

Ava’s smiles were beyond endearing and tempting. They were a tease, a jolt, a gift. I’d chase her smile every day, every minute.

“All right,” I murmured as I lifted my lips from hers. “If at any point your ankle hurts, you say something. Immediately. Are we clear?”

She shimmied her shoulders under me. “Absolutely. I love it when you’re bossy, Tanner.”

Yet again, I was laughing. This joy with her—tangled inside this desire—was something I honestly couldn’t have imagined. Yet it came easy with Ava.

She leaned closer, dusting hot kisses along my collarbone, her hands sliding down over my chest to curl around my length. “Please, Tanner. I don’t want to keep waiting.”

As if I could have waited much longer. The next few moments passed in a blur as I eased my weight over her. Our kisses were messy. I savored the sweet tang of her skin when I nipped lightly behind her ear, and she shivered beneath me. She was all soft curves, and every inch of her pressed against me was a heaven I never imagined.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Tanner

Get with the program or hard and fast

* * *

On the heels of a steadying breath, I eased myself into the cradle of her hips. I could feel the rapid rise and fall of her breath and the slick heat at her core.

“Oh, fuck,” I murmured, clinging to what little control I had left.

“That’s the point, right?” she said tartly.

I practically choked on my next breath. “You’re gonna kill me, Ava.”